TUESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2021

In Shreveport, Louisiana, a 16-year old boy was shot in the head as he and a friend were playing with a gun.  He is said to be “fighting for his life.” And in St. Louis, Missouri, Marquis Bishop, age 30, was arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child after a three-year old …

TUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2021

In Jackson, Mississippi, police are investigating the accidental shooting death of Jeffrey Sutton II,  the 15-year old son of Jackson’s fire chief. He was shot in the lower extremities.  No other details are available at this time.  According to the report, Sutton was the second child of a Jackson firefighter to die of a gunshot …

SUNDAY, AUGUST 8, 2021

Gastonia, North Carolina police are investigating the death of Markovia Durham, a 29-year old man who was shot and killed by his two-year old son.  “It’s a horrible tragedy. It’s a horrible situation for everyone involved,” said the Gaston County District Attorney. The child thought the Glock pistol was a toy according to family members. …

SUNDAY, AUGUST 1, 2021

Three children shot and killed themselves today with loaded guns they found in their homes.  In each case, few details were reported.  In Smithfield, Utah, a five-old and his family returned from a camping trip on Tuesday night and left their camping gear in a downstairs room.  The boy came downstairs early on Tuesday morning …

SATURDAY, JULY 3, 2021

At least three toddlers and two teenagers were injured in gun accidents today.  The reported details of most of the incidents are limited or murky.  In Birmingham, Alabama, a two-year old apparently shot himself inside a vehicle at a gas station.  The news story implies that the child found a gun in the car, perhaps …

THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 2021

In Temple, Maine, a two-year old found a loaded gun in his home and used it to accidentally shoot and kill himself. Other family members were home at the time of the accident. The incident comes just over a month after another Maine two-year old found a loaded Glock piston on a nightstand in his …

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2021

For the second day in a row, a two-year old toddler got hold of and fired a loaded gun.  In this instance, a Joliet, Illinois toddler shot herself.  According to the local police, she “unfortunately succumbed” to her injuries.  No other information is available. Source: “2-Year-Old Child Dies of Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound in Joliet, Police …

TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 2021

A nine-year old Canton, Mississippi child is in stable condition at the hospital after his two-year old sister found a loaded gun in the family truck and shot him in the head. Police say that the children’s parents had gone inside a home and had left the children in their truck unattended. The Canton police …

FRIDAY, MAY 21, 2021

In Lakeland, Florida, a man unsuccessfully hid a loaded gun in a couch to keep it away from children while he and a friend watched a basketball game.  A 3-year old found it and used it to shoot his two-year old sister.  The girl is in critical condition at the hospital.  The gun’s owner was …

FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021

For the second time in a week, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin toddler found a loaded gun and shot himself.  This time a two-year old is in critical condition.  A news report states that a 28-year old woman was arrested in connection with the incident. Just last Saturday, a Milwaukee three-year old found a gun and killed …

WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021

Three people were injured when a Bath, Maine two-year old found a loaded 9 mm pistol on a nightstand in his parent’s bedroom.  According to a report of the incident, the boy’s mother “sustained a ‘clean gunshot wound’ to her leg and the father, 25, sustained a minor injury to the back of his head. …

FRIDAY, MAY 7, 2021

In Escambia, Florida a two-year old was accidentally shot and killed by his mother’s friend, Quentin Wright.  At the time of the accident, Wright was putting the gun away at the request of the boy’s mother.  They boy, Sebastian Mooney, was struck by a single 9 mm round.  Wright was arrested and charged with manslaughter. …

MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021

Police in Statesville, North Carolina announced that a two-year old child found a loaded gun on a bed in their home and shot themselves.  The child is in stable condition. The owner of the gun and the child’s mother were arrested.  The gun owner, Erin Vanderburg, was charged with failure to secure a gun to …

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2021

In Clarksville, Tennessee, a two-year old child was killed in a home where there were three children under the age of four. One of the toddlers found an unsecured gun and shot the two-year old.  He died at the hospital. Julian Chester, the child’s mother’s boyfriend, was arrested on unrelated charges. Source: “Tenn. Toddler Dies …

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2021

In East Chicago, Indiana, a two-year old found an unattended loaded gun in his home and shot himself in the side of the head. The child was conscious when officers found him, a police deputy reported. Family members told police that the boy had located his father’s gun in the residence and shot himself with …

FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 2021

In Ellisville, Mississippi, a four-year old toddler found a loaded semi-automatic pistol in his family car and accidentally shot and killed his two-year old sister. Their mother had left them in the back seat of the car temporarily.  The toddler was able to climb out of his car seat and grab the gun. “It’s just …

SUNDAY, JANUARY 24, 2021

In Norton, Virginia, George Henry Sailers, IV, was charged with shooting his girlfriend in an accident that occurred while he was playing with his gun.  Sailers allegedly told deputies that he had been trying to twirl a .22 Ruger pistol he had gotten for Christmas. While Sailers was trying to show how fast he could …

SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 2021

A pair of two-year old children were shot and critically injured today, one in Kentucky and the other in Maine. Police are investigating both incidents. In Louisville Kentucky, a two-year old girl found a gun and shot herself. She is expected to survive. Police are investigating how she got the gun. In Waterville, Maine, a …

MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2020

On the 8th anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, at least four children were killed or injured in gun accidents. Three of the incidents involved guns that were found by the children themselves or by other children. The fourth involved a child who was hit by a stray bullet while walking on the …

A YEAR OF DAILY REPORTS ABOUT UNINTENDED GUN VIOLENCE

Lessons Learned: [note: hyperlinked material shows in dark blue] November 15, 2020 marked the one-year anniversary of Shattered: The Gun Accident Journal.  There are now more than 366 daily reports in the archive, categorized by state and tagged for common safety issues.  There are also five chronological narratives that illustrate the steady accumulation of family …

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2020

At least three children were shot in separate gun accidents today.  Two were wounded.  One was killed.  In Senatobia, Mississippi, a two-year old girl found a loaded gun and shot herself.  She is being treated at a local hospital and is in stable condition.  The incident is being reported as an “accidental discharge.”  It is …

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020

Three children under ten-years old were shot by accident in separate incidents today.  Two of the incidents occurred in connection with drive-by shootings in Mississippi.  In the first, in Roxie Mississippi, six-year old Robert London was killed when someone fired into his home for unknown reasons.  He was hit in the head.  “They went by …

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2020

Three children under age 10 shot themselves today. In Chicago, Illinois, three boys left home alone while their father was picking up their mother from the hospital found a loaded gun.  One of the boys, a five-year old, accidentally shot his nine-year old brother in the head.  The boy, Ashton Lipscomb, died at the hospital.  …

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2020

A two-year old in Bakersfield, California accidentally shot a relative with a loaded gun he found inside his apartment. The unidentified woman is in critical condition at the hospital.  “At this point, we are going through all the various interviews and still doing some follow-up investigations as far as where the gun was located, how …

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2020

A nine-year old Clayton, North Carolina boy shot his two-year old sister in the head today.  The girl was taken to the hospital where she is in serious condition. Police were looking into how the boy found a loaded handgun in his home.  Under North Carolina law, the boy’s parents could face charges if the …

WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 2020

A two-year old girl who was caught in the crossfire when shots were fired is dead.  A girl the police identified only as “Jo Jo” was in a car in Hammond, Indiana with her mother when the incident occurred.  Jo Jo’s mother was unharmed.  According to police, neither Jo Jo nor her mother had a …

SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2020

A two-year old boy died in a gun accident Saturday night in Graniteville, South Carolina.  He “accessed a handgun and shot himself” according to a news report.  Deputies arriving at the scene “observed a complainant sitting on the ground in the roadway holding her 2-year-old son, Jamarious Rogers, in her arms.”  He later died at …

THURSDAY, JULY 2, 2020

In Hendersonville, Tennessee John Robert Moore, a two-year old boy, found an unattended loaded handgun in his father’s car and shot himself.  His father was a volunteer firefighter and the two were visiting the Shackle Island fire station at the time of the accident. “Everybody loved that little boy,” said Martin Bowers, fire chief for …

TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2020

A two-year old Elkview, West Virginia toddler is dead after he found an unsecured gun in a bedroom of his home and used it to shoot himself in the head. A parent and a sibling were in the home at the time.  Putting aside a parent’s responsibility to unload and safely secure guns when children …

MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2020

Another two-year old Jacksonville, Florida toddler died after an apparent gun accident today.  Although some of the circumstances of the accident are unclear, the child and/or a young sibling apparently found a loaded gun in their home.  One of them fired it and the toddler is dead. Police confirmed that there were also adults present …

FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2020

A two-year old Florida child was shot by a man who was cleaning his gun, according to Escambia County sheriff’s deputies.  The child was hospitalized.  No further information was reported. Source: “Deputies: 2-year-old Accidentally Shot while Gun Owner was Cleaning Firearm,” WEAR TV (May 8, 2020). 

SUNDAY, MAY 3, 2020

Two-year old, Chevy Carroll, an Elizabethtown, Kentucky boy, was shot and killed today. The child was home with both parents and two young siblings at the time he was shot. Few other circumstances of the shooting are available at this time. “So this is going to be a challenging investigation, but one that we want …

THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 2020

Three children and an adult were killed in gun accidents today. The adult was shot to death by his two-year old child.  Each of the news stories marking these deaths was brief: In Ooltewah, Tennessee, Jermaine Vincent, a three-year old, found a gun that a family friend had brought to his home and fatally shot …

TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2020

A three-year old shot himself in the head today in Columbia, South Carolina with a gun he found in a bedroom in his home.  He is hospitalized in critical condition.  His mother was later charged with “unlawful conduct toward a child.” In Bolivar, Missouri a two-year old child shot his four-year old brother in the …

THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2020

Four young children accidentally shot themselves today with found guns in separate incidents.  Two are dead.  Two are hospitalized.  In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania a four-year old found a Glock pistol in a closet and shot himself in the head in his bedroom.  His three-year old brother was in the room at the time.  Police say the …

FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 2020

Of eight reports of accidental shootings today, involving a total of 11 shooting incidents, three occurred in Ohio, one each in Mississippi, Wyoming, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia. None of the 11 shootings was fatal.  Two of the incidents involved accidental self-inflicted shootings, three involved young children shot accidentally by others, three involved women apparently …